The trend is likely to continue.
In Michigan, 1 out of 3 inhabitants are considered obese – in line with most of the nation. And the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that 42% adults and 20% of children and teenagers were fat. The study was covered from 2017 to 2020.
All of this extra weight is an expensive reality.
Obesity has been linked to 236 health conditions from heart disease and some cancer, arthritis, infertility and depression and anxiety to type 2 diabetes.
And according to separate studies published in the New England Medical Journal, obesity spent an additional $ 260.6 billion in direct medical costs at national level in 2016, while the in -post cost is 46% and the leaflet cost Spending on drugs is 80% more, which are more than those who compared to no more weight or obesity.
Drugs are a reflection of the increasing understanding of weight gain, Dr. Kim Pafotenhaur said, a family doctor, especially trained in diabetes and a professor at the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State University.
“We have really been told for a long time that it is only lifestyle: in calories, calories out, and it is equally balanced that then we all should be the weight that we should be,” said Pafotenharr.
Doctors now understand that the ability to control weight or lose is the same about “signaling pathway” that varies from person to another among other things. Two people can eat equal amounts of food, but one is satisfied; The other is not, he said.
And this is the place where drugs come.
Drugs are known as GLP-1 agonist drugs, as they mimic the effects of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1, which helps people feel full. They slow down digestion and parts of the brain that process the feeling of hunger and satisfaction.
And this means that drugs, despite the monthly cost, can save large dollars to the state in a long time, the Meghan Grone said, which oversees the state’s Medicade program.
For many years, Medicade in Michigan has covered weight loss drugs for people with type 2 diabetes. On 1 February 2022, it began to cover those who clinically suffer from obesity.
“You see (on the dangers of obesity) and say ‘What can the Medicade program do?” Grone said.
Nevertheless, many of the rest of Michigan will go without drugs for now, as drugs can be lifetime for some people, for this commercial insurers paid $ 1,000 or a month.
“We as health plans, we as doctors, we as doctors, as we are patients, we are finding out as a community: where these drugs fit now in our entire weight-conscious diet Is it? ” Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Michigan’s Blue Cross Blue Shield. James Grant said,
Blue Cross covers drugs under certain circumstances. In January, it covered costs for 30,000 people, which were using weight loss drugs to help control diabetes, but another 12,000 for weight loss, vice -president of Ether, worse, pharmacy services and The Chief Pharmacy Officer said at Michigan’s Blue Cross Blue Shield.